by Mike Brehm, USA TODAY Sports

by Mike Brehm, USA TODAY Sports

San Jose Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic will be poorer and Minnesota Wild winger Dany Heatley will miss Thursday's game because of a late-game tussle.

The NHL fined Vlasic $8,378.38 for slashing Heatley's arm as time expired in the Sharks' 4-2 win.

Vlasic first cross-checked Heatley to the ice and Heatley swung his stick and missed. Vlasic swung and connected. He received a five-minute major and game misconduct.

"If he's going to slash me, I'm going to defend myself and just swing back," the defenseman told CSN Bay Area after the game. "Unfortunately, I got him. I didn't want to hurt him."

Heatley suffered an injury and will miss Thursday's game against the Los Angeles Kings, but saving Vlasic from a harsher penalty was the fact that the slash didn't cause the injury. Vlasic knocked down Heatley as they tussled after the stick-swinging incident.

"A review of the incident that included a conversation with the Minnesota Wild confirmed that Heatley suffered an injury in an ensuing scrum and not as a result of Vlasic's slash," the league said in a statement.

As a first-time offender, the maximum Vlasic could be fined was the lesser of $10,000 or one-half of his daily salary.